Post 13: Belen to Tucuman

Monday was a very arduous transit from Belen, Northwest of Catamarca up to Tucuman. It was six solid hours on rough dirt two-lane road, starting with passage though extremely dry, hot low back country that supported a few goat ranches until we reached Andalgala.




Just outside that tiny dusthole, we began a long grinding series of switchbacks up a steep pitch, gaining 5,000 feet in no more than ten kilometers of horizontal travel on the map. Along the way we met a regularly scheduled passenger bus traveling to Andalgala from Adumbrera! I don´t know how he negotiated some of the hairpins.







At the top of the long climb, the environment quickly transitioned from the dry hillside to scenic farmland and quaint villages. Unfortunately, our camera batteries ran out about the time we reached to top of the desert side. Twenty kilometers or so further the mountain became much wetter and soon we were in subtropical forest as we descended from the ridges. Beautiful lush valleys visible from the road thousands of feet below.

The descent was also arduous switchbacking for over an hour, but it was much cooler and wetter. Finally got to pavement at Concepcion, about 50K outside Tucuman. Lush farmland all the way into the city. Beginning of sugarcane and banana agriculture. Tucuman is warm now and humid. Gets to upper 90´s with over 50% humidity in summer months.

Post 12: Mendoza to Belen

Passing on the right.




The bright colors didn't come through here, but this is a cemetery along the highway. It looked like a miniature town.


Old doors/buildings are everywhere.


Maybe they want to keep the goats out??


Southern Arizona redux:


Here they come...


...and there they go.


Tree breaks are planted everywhere.


More views from the highway.


It's hard to see, but in this pic there are goats, sheep, cows and horses. The only thing missing was the chickens.




Belen was the first town we saw that was poor. The northern regions have the largest indigenous populations. They have a longstanding history, were taken over by the Incas in 1000s and then survived a US West-like slaughter in the 1600-1800s.

We stayed the night in a hostel-type hotel and it was probably the best lodging in town. Their rock work was amazing. Old and new.

Post 11: Chacras de Coria

This is a suburb of Mendoza about 30 minutes south of downtown.









The neighborhood's streets.

Post 10: San Juan back to Mendoza...

Police in AR are very different from the USA.

There are border checkpoints of every departamento. Some were toll collection spots. We'd heard stories of police misconduct (bribes for trumped up traffic stops, etc.) but we encountered only polite and helpful people. Once we had them remind us to turn on our headlights while driving the highway.


They are all very young. Lots of women too. They dress para-military style.


In the cities they walk the streets or bicycle. They seem like deterents to crime more than 'catching the bad guys' like our police do. Hard to explain. Rarely did we see anyone with 'attitude'. Maybe Art can do a better job of describing the difference.

Views of the street from our hotel window in Mendoza.






Mendoza is the capital and largest city in Departamento de Mendoza (province). Beautiful city. On the way into town, I got a cold so we stayed here almost 3 days. I slept solidly through one of them. The hotel was owned by an Italian couple who had been in AR for 51 years (they were in their 70s). The husband ran a Really Good Italian restaurant, Treve, in the hotel. At the end of every meal, he'd come by with two shot glasses and pour an aperitif out of an unmarked bottle. It looked like lemon sherbert and vodka. De-lish and Strong.

Strange hotel keychains...


Beautiful city streets.






As the pictures show, the streets are spotless. They're cared for by an army of street sweepers in orange jumpsuits. They sweep by hand.

It was metered parking only in front of our hotel . But -- the 'meter' was a person who was in charge of the block. We paid them and they gave us a ticket for our car. Also, if your car is in the sun they'll put sun shades over the front window as a courtesy!


Meter person.

Mendoza's largest city park. It's acres and acres.

Post 9: San Rafael to Mendoza to San Juan

Roadside watercourse.


The view looking at the other side of the street.


More feet.


The view from our hotel room in San Juan.


Fresh squeezed orange juice. We only saw this in San Juan. Yum.

Post 8: Argentine Transportation!

The transportation system here gives the country a lot of its quirkiness.

Everywhere, big cities and small towns, was a giant hairball of one way streets. Double decker buses, trucks, cars, scooters, bicycles, pedestrians and horses pulling sulkies all vying for limited amounts of space.


Driving in urban areas was hair-raising. Not only do streets change names every few blocks, street signs are occasionally missing. City streets are narrow, one-way affairs, frequently with a cobbled surface. Most secondary intersections have no lights or stop signs. Drivers are extremely aggressive running red, passing on the right on two lane streets, etc. Enforcement is lax to non-existent. Pedestrians jaywalk and it never looks like they're going to stop. Stopping for a pedestrian in the middle of the street is not done.


On top of that circus, trying to navigate is made worse because the sun is in the Northern sky, not the Southern. When you feel intuitively certain that you are traveling West due to the shadows and sun, in fact you are going East. Fortunately we carried a compass.

There are lots of older cars in Argentina. They never throw anything away. Here are some examples.








90% of the cars are small. There are trucks too for the agriculture. We can count on one hand the number of big gas guzzlers we saw the whole time we were there.

With the plethora of moving targets on the streets and highways, there are Lots of shrines along the roadways. This one is particularly ornate.




People leave flowers, candles, food and bottles of water. The bottles of water are still a mystery. Art thinks it's to water the plants around the shrines...